SINGAPORE: Over 74,000 employers will receive about S$800 million in the first tranche of Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) payouts by March 31.
A Finance Ministry statement issued on Tuesday said small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will receive around three-quarters of the sum disbursed.
Employers who qualify for the payout will receive a letter from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) by March 31 on their total payout.
Employers may also check their eligibility at the IRAS website from March 21 onwards.
The payout will be made through direct credit to the employers’ GIRO bank account used for income tax and GST purposes, or by cheque.
The statement said appeals on the first tranche of payouts must be submitted to IRAS by June 30, and they will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Those who are successful in their appeals will be paid from June 2014 onwards.
The ministry said WCS payouts help co-fund 40 per cent of the wage increases given in 2013 to approximately two in three Singaporean employees who earned a gross monthly wage of S$4,000 and below in 2012.
The WCS was introduced in 2013 as part of a three-year transition support package to help businesses to cope with rising wage costs so that they can free up resources to invest in productivity, and share their productivity gains with their employees.
In 2013, lower-income Singaporeans in the bottom 20 per cent received a median wage increase of 10 per cent compared to 8 per cent among all employees covered by the WCS.
More information on WCS may be found at the IRAS website.
source: channelnewsasia.com
